Samantha Miller is a self proclaimed wellness guru who lives her life through "her girls" She's brought out books and podcasts detailing everything that's happened in her life, the good, bad and the ugly. She writes with honesty about her experiences..........or does she?? Because on the cusp of her new book release a childhood friend comes forward and says that Samantha's truth isn't her truth or recollection.
Thus book goes to show that social media portrays certain images that can be embellished to suit the narrative of the author. We see perfect images and long to be those people but the reality is often very different.
Louise has created an interesting novel here.

A successful self help guru and author finds herself in danger of being cancelled when old rumours about her past resurface, and she has to go back to her old home town and visit old friends in order to try and rescue her career and her reputation

Samantha is now 40 and has a wildly successful business motivating young women with her own brand of empowering self help, but her personal life is a mess as she is a recovering addict with a string of failed short term relationships and shallow friendships. Out of the blue her childhood friend accuses her of sexual assault, which threatens all that she is worked for and her reputation. The story has plenty of interesting things to say about teenage nostalgia, changing female friendships, toxic relationships, cancel culture and the self help/social media industry and is spot on in this regard, but it's really hard to engage with such wholly unlikeable characters, although maybe that's the point? Louise O Neill's writing is excellent and sharp, I loved her YA books which are equally well written and deal with challenging themes. The plot manages some genuine twists and turns as characters show their true colours but perhaps our heroine is just a tad too confused, messed up and self interested to really gauge our sympathy. A compelling read though.

This book had an interesting concept however it lacked depth and some of the characters felt unbelievable. Would recommend for a quick page turner.

This was an interesting concept and very believable given the idolisation and cancel cultures that exist so strongly at the moment. It felt as though it was written for a drama adaptation and I can see this happening quite easily.
I generally prefer more depth to my books but it was easy to read, well written and enjoyable. A good escape or holiday read.

Idol by Louise O'Neill is an intriguing story which explores the powers of social media. Realistic and thought provoking. An interesting read.

Idol by Louise O’ Neill is a searing take down of the online guru/influencer culture that’s become so prominent in the last few years.

Samantha Miller is at the peak of her career; she’s written self-help books, has a huge insta following and she regularly hosts sell-out events where she preaches to her “girls”; mostly teenagers desperate for guidance, who idolise Samantha.

Determined to bare all to her followers in an attempt to encourage them to be more chaste in their sexual encounters, she writes an essay describing a sexual awakening she experienced as a teenager, but with her best friend, Lisa. It transpires however, that Lisa’s memory of that incident is very different from Samantha’s, and is much darker than how it was described in the essay.

Samantha’s world begins to crumble around her as Lisa’s reappearance in her life causes shockwaves that threaten to topple her off her podium.

This isn’t necessarily an enjoyable read, but I do think it’s cleverly written and is quite timely for the era we live in. Samantha brought to mind quite a few of the very famous, white, preachy lifestyle gurus that are hugely popular on insta when I read this.

So much of what we see online is artifice; people’s lives presented in certain lights to garner love and respect.
Sometimes these personalities begin to believe their own hype, as with Samantha in Idol. She’s not a likeable character, but I did swing from being upset for her at what appeared to be a false accusation to questioning my own understanding of what I was being presented with. Idol reminds us that memories are open to interpretation based on the individual, and can’t always be trusted.

I’ve read all of Louise O’ Neill’s books at this point, and while I thought this was a good read, it’s not my favourite of hers. It was hard to read at times but was an interesting spin on the “me too” movement and would certainly give you pause for thought.

With thanks to @netgalley and @randomhouse for the ARC. Idol will be published on the 12th of May.

A though-provoking exploration of fame and influencers, a very timely read! My first O'Neill but not my last one for sure!

Another compelling read from Louise O'Neill. She has a way of getting into the tricky intricacies of topics like relationships, sex and womanhood. This one brought in the other interesting angles of fame and social media.

The way it played with memory and people's concepts of the truth, how over the years a narrative can take more shape than the real thing. It kept me confused about what happened and where responsibility belonged, especially in the hands of such an unreliable protagonist.

Louise O'Neill is never afraid to give us deeply complicated and flawed characters but none more so than the women in this book, especially Samantha. I have a feeling I'll be thinking about this one for a while.

This was my first Louise O'Neill read, and it definitely won't be my last.

The main characters Sam is an influencer with a booming career after her book Chaste hits the best sellers list and he hits 3 millions followers. After encourging her followers to speak their truth, she decides to do the same by talk about a sexual encounter she had with a friend Lisa when she was a teenager. In one email her life comes crashing down around her after she finds out the encounter wasn't consensual and she is labelled as a sexual predator.

During the whole book I battled with whether I like Samantha, she is such a complex chararcter full of past trauma and issues which makes you feel symathy for her whilst not liking her for her wrong-doings.

An incredibly engaging read, I look forward to reading more from Louise in the future.

Samantha Miller exemplifies the modern idol: beautiful-looking, making her living as a hugely successful influencer, and with her very own wellness brand. However, one fateful day a harmful post appears about her sending her career into nosedive. While her staff try to ‘crisis manage’ the situation, Samantha heads back to her hometown to take matters into her own hands and, through a series of flashbacks, the reader learns more about the celebrity's character and her past. This novel feels very contemporary in its themes about celebrity, truth and identity. The concept of ‘my truth’ is explored, and how our desire to 'share' it can cause harm to others; as are other, potentially dangerous, in-vogue concepts such as the power of visualisation as a means of allowing the universe to bring good things to you. Interesting concepts aside though, I found myself struggling to get through the second half.

I am a massive fan of O’Neill, and this book does not disappoint.

O'Neill's latest novel Idol has the alluring tagline, 'Not everyone we put on a pedestal deserves to be there.' 

Idol examines the notion of the social media influencer (the irony), with a particular focus on Samantha Miller, whose career is flourishing: she has way over a million followers, and her new book Chaste has gone straight into bestseller lists; her events are all sell-out successes. Samantha might be all mindfulness and ‘Shakti’ now, but she has a darker past. A past she is more than willing to share with her posse of adoring fans, hashtag SamShares.

Determined to speak her truth and bare all, Samantha writes an essay about her sexual awakening as a teenager with her female best friend, Lisa. She's never told a soul before now, but now she's telling the world. The essay, of course, goes viral.

But then Lisa gets in contact with Samantha’s publicity manager to say that she doesn't remember it that way. Her memory of that night is far more troubling.

In an effort to sweep away any issues, Samantha returns to her hometown to confront Lisa. This predictably does not go to plan. Instead, Samantha is confronted by more traumatic experiences from her past, issues she has spent a lot of time and money in therapy to process and aid recovery.

It becomes Samantha’s word against Lisa's. So, who gets to tell the story? And whose 'truth' is, in reality, a lie?

Never afraid to avoid controversy or the taboo, O’Neill covers some difficult topics here, including grief, loss, addiction, sexual assault, and body dysmorphia, all with a strong feminist slant.

Idol is utterly compelling, a beautifully written novel with darkness at its core. A real page-turner of a book that just made me want to keep on reading. Honestly, I wouldn’t say I liked any of the characters, but I wanted to get to the bottom of what had happened.

In this age of social media celebrities, Idol is highly culturally relevant and carries a word of warning to all.

I highly recommend you read this, 5 ⭐️, but I would give more if I could.

Honestly thought this was an intriguing premise and something that was obviously culturally relevant but I was not drawn in at all. I didn't like the MC, i know that was probably the point but i couldn't sympathise it with her at all or the character making the accusations . Ultimately this book just wasn't for me and the ending annoyed me.

For Samantha Miller's young fans - her 'girls' - she's everything they want to be. She's an oracle, telling them how to live their lives, how to be happy, how to find and honour their 'truth'.

But what happens when your "truth" doesn't align to how others remember the same event? Whose truth is the real truth?

The themes of social media, cancel culture, fame, friendship, sexual assault and memory are all explored in this book. This is a page turner of a book that just made me want to keep reading. I wasn't rooting for any of the characters but I wanted to get to the bottom of what had happened.

Whilst I really enjoyed this book I almost wanted more from it. A deeper dive into characters and the background of certain events. That's the only thing that made me mark this 4.5/5 and not a 5.

I enjoyed this book in a very uncomfortable way. We are introduced to Sam who is a self made “celebrity” with a book and film to her credit. She is followed by millions on several social media platforms and has made a lot of money along the way. All is good until she releases another book which reveals some of her teenage past, notably a sexual encounter with her “best friend” Lisa. What follows is the complete fall out after Lisa proclaims she doesn’t remember it in the same way and suggests it was sexual assault. Sam then sees her world crumble and delves into her past to tell the story alongside Lisa’s.

It was brilliantly crafted and you are taken down a rabbit hole of various accounts from that time,as people remember them. Definitely worth a read

An intriguing story with a thrilling plot. Characters not so much to relate to as to watch with fascination. The themes of wellness gurus, social media influencers and the Me Too movement make it very relevant and of the moment.

Review of Idol by Louise O'Neill

Non-Spoiler
The story follows the famous wellness/life guru Sam, as she is at the height of her career following her latest book on chastity, when her manager receives an email from her former best friend accusing her of sexual assault when they were teenagers.

But this isn't how Sam remembers her night with Lisa, Lisa was in to it, wasn't she?

As an anonymous reddit post brings this allegation public, the rest of Sam's seeming glossy life starts to unravel as she returns to her home town to seek the truth.

I really enjoyed the writing and the pacing in this book. I did guess some of the twists ahead of time but it still had me on edge to the very end.


Spoiler Review




So I saw the Becky twist coming a while before it was revealed and the same with the abortion, however i didn't see the twist for the night itself, which worked with the story.
I don't usually enjoy an unreliable narrator story but this one works, and i liked that in the end, she wasn't this holier than thou great person, and there wasn't a way to fix what had happened.

Insta follow up to be posted closer to pub date.

Well what do I say about this one? Another corker from Louise O'Neil

This is more character driven than plot driven but really explores how our memories and experiences can be blurred by time, how what we believe happened can vary so significantly, and your truth and someone else's truth can be different.

Lots of thought provoking looks into celebrity, cancel culture and lots of references for 90s babies like me to enjoy. And uncomfortable read as always!

I am afraid that I struggled with this book. I didn't connect with the main character, or the world she lived in.it is my fault I feel for choosing it .I do like to switch my genres and it doesn't always work for me. I hope other readers enjoy it more.

I wasn’t sure if I would like this book, but as social media is such a thing these days, and how it effects some people good and bad, I decided to read it. I really enjoyed it and read it very quickly the more I absorbed the story.

This book was one word: delicious. It centres around Samantha - an influencer of sorts who runs a wellness brand and write memoirs about her experiences. She has a number of devout followers and fans, but an allegation from a high school friend sends her reputation tumbling. The rest of the book is Sam trying to unpick her memories and save her reputation. I found this book intriguing beginning to end, with some excellent plot turns and well formed characters. I loved it!